Lack of housing inventory - West University & Sam Hughes (Phoenix: for sale, real estate)

[spumoni]

Hello,
I've been searching in these two areas and cannot believe the lack of inventory (both rental and for sale). I wanted to ask if this is "normal", or is it a result of the housing shortage?

Thanks for your help

[grmi66]

I just did a quick perusal of one of the real estate sites, Sam Hughes is only a square mile and currently has a dozen homes for sale and another dozen that are contingent (which in my experience means that a few those will probably come back on the market). That neighborhood was highly desirable when I was an undergrad 35 years ago. You buy a house there and keep it until you die.

Compare that to my subdivision in a prized part of Oro Valley. Out of almost 1000 houses in my subdivision, we have one house for sale and one contingent right now.

Can't speak to the West University neighborhood much, when I was an undergrad I did a few surveys of the area for my Urban Planning major. Back then it was a slightly nicer student slum inhabited by grad students and untenured young professors.

[grmi66]

I drive through the West University area for work a few times a week and I looked at the current houses on the market. Many of the large homes in the area were carved up for apartments back in the 1950's and it appears that a few of them are now condos or townhouses that you can purchase. Lot of the housing stock are much smaller in square footage, 1000 SF compared to larger homes on larger lots in Sam Hughes.

But, just had a buddy who could purchase anywhere in town buy a place in the West University neighborhood. Then proceeded to drop at least $100,000 in upgrades like professional landscaping and a pool. He's convinced that it's the next hot spot in Tucson.

This is a big generalization. Sam Hughes for decades was where the well heeled tenured professors, college administrators and doctors at the med school lived. It's always been nice. Plus walking distance to the U of A from the eastern border of campus. It's quiet, peaceful and just a nice neighborhood. Don't have to worry about listening to a college keg party on the weekend. On the flipside the West University area is a commercial district with homes stuck in the middle of it. Has a different feel. Plus a ton of rentals in the area. Few people at work all own 1-2 rentals near the U of A and most of them in the West University area. If we purchase a rental, that's probably an area we will be looking in.

[recycled]

Before I returned to Germany a couple of weeks ago, I attempted to buy a house in Tucson but got frustrated with the low inventory and super-fast turnaround time to make a decision. I also found almost no houses that were on streets that I deemed quiet enough, and far enough away from the main streets (Broadway, 22nd, etc). I was looking further east, in the Palo Verde Park and Tierra del Sol subdivisions, each about 1 square mile. I was looking for smaller than 1500 sq ft.

My biggest concern about West University would be noise, specifically train horn noise from the 4 closely spaced grade level crossings at North Granada, W 5th, W 6th & N 7th. One crossing after the other, the trains have to lay on their horns and the noise is piercing. 25+ trains per day pass these crossings in each direction, so that is a lot of train horn noise! That, on top of the occasional loud college student events or parties that might be going on almost anywhere in the W University neighborhood.

[spumoni]

This is really helpful, thank you.

[gman4gov]

Originally Posted by recycled

Before I returned to Germany a couple of weeks ago, I attempted to buy a house in Tucson but got frustrated with the low inventory and super-fast turnaround time to make a decision. I also found almost no houses that were on streets that I deemed quiet enough, and far enough away from the main streets (Broadway, 22nd, etc). I was looking further east, in the Palo Verde Park and Tierra del Sol subdivisions, each about 1 square mile. I was looking for smaller than 1500 sq ft.

My biggest concern about West University would be noise, specifically train horn noise from the 4 closely spaced grade level crossings at North Granada, W 5th, W 6th & N 7th. One crossing after the other, the trains have to lay on their horns and the noise is piercing. 25+ trains per day pass these crossings in each direction, so that is a lot of train horn noise! That, on top of the occasional loud college student events or parties that might be going on almost anywhere in the W University neighborhood.

I'm in Germany and was looking to return to Tucson for a home. With the sub-standard amount of home for the buck, no..but hell no. I'll wait till market cools down.

[Saguarogirl507]

I bought my condo here in 2015. The plan was to stay here for our retirement. Since we moved here in 2018 our condo community has become mainly AirBnBs. We ended up buying the unit above us just so no-one would turn it into an AirBnB and make living downstairs unsustainable. There are 254 units and I would say that well over half are now vacation rentals. We used to have people living here on long term leases who actually lived and worked here in Tucson. Now that is no longer the case. In my opinion, AirBnBs are ruining the housing here. These units are selling for outrageous prices now due to all the investors buying them up and renting them out this way. Our community is always full of strangers now. here for a day or two. Using our pools and amenities and we have to pay for all the damage they cause. Wear and tear on the spas, pool furniture etc. It is a nightmare. Needless to stay we are no longer planning to finish our retirement here. It makes me very sad to see what is happening here. I would imagine it is happening in the down town area as well.

[KurtAZ]

Originally Posted by RobertaWa

I bought my condo here in 2015. The plan was to stay here for our retirement. Since we moved here in 2018 our condo community has become mainly AirBnBs. We ended up buying the unit above us just so no-one would turn it into an AirBnB and make living downstairs unsustainable. There are 254 units and I would say that well over half are now vacation rentals. We used to have people living here on long term leases who actually lived and worked here in Tucson. Now that is no longer the case. In my opinion, AirBnBs are ruining the housing here. These units are selling for outrageous prices now due to all the investors buying them up and renting them out this way. Our community is always full of strangers now. here for a day or two. Using our pools and amenities and we have to pay for all the damage they cause. Wear and tear on the spas, pool furniture etc. It is a nightmare. Needless to stay we are no longer planning to finish our retirement here. It makes me very sad to see what is happening here. I would imagine it is happening in the down town area as well.

This has been happening in some of the complexes in Phoenix as well, only it is the apartment management that are allocating a number of apartments as AirBnBs. They furnish ~20 apartments and put them up as short turn rentals. Getting kind of crazy.

[Saguarogirl507]

I am not sure if I can post this here. It is a paper produced in 2021 regarding the damage Short Term Rentals are doing to this state.
http://blogs.mml.org/wp/short-term-r...r-Disaster.pdf

[wildflowers27]

Originally Posted by RobertaWa

I bought my condo here in 2015. The plan was to stay here for our retirement. Since we moved here in 2018 our condo community has become mainly AirBnBs. We ended up buying the unit above us just so no-one would turn it into an AirBnB and make living downstairs unsustainable. There are 254 units and I would say that well over half are now vacation rentals. We used to have people living here on long term leases who actually lived and worked here in Tucson. Now that is no longer the case. In my opinion, AirBnBs are ruining the housing here. These units are selling for outrageous prices now due to all the investors buying them up and renting them out this way. Our community is always full of strangers now. here for a day or two. Using our pools and amenities and we have to pay for all the damage they cause. Wear and tear on the spas, pool furniture etc. It is a nightmare. Needless to stay we are no longer planning to finish our retirement here. It makes me very sad to see what is happening here. I would imagine it is happening in the down town area as well.

All those AirBnBs sound horrible, and I can see how this would completely change the character of where you live. Some condo associations have pushed back by putting in their bylaws that any rental has to have a 30 (or 60 or 90) day minimum. You said over half are now vacation rentals, though, so this could be hard. Maybe now's the time to sell your two units and find a quieter community of long-term occupants. I'm in the camp that where you live is a HOME. "Investors" shouldn't roll in and turn it into a hotel or dorm atmosphere, it is disrespectful to those who live there.